


Fairytale

by TrinesRUs



Category: Transformers: Rescue Bots
Genre: Character Study, Gen, discussed pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 19:44:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2037639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrinesRUs/pseuds/TrinesRUs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She knows women can take care of themselves. She knows women like Dani Burns and Francine Greene prefer to be the Knight long before they’ll be the Princess in the Tower, and that’s awesome. Heck, Hayley knows she doesn't always need to be saved, either. She has a brain; she can problem-solve.</p>
<p>But is she suddenly worth less than them just because she knows she can’t always do what they do? Is she less because she wants someone to be there to catch her if she falls? To be strong for her when she can’t be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fairytale

**Author's Note:**

> I got the inspiration for this fic sometime before the halfway-point in writing Unexpected Reaction. I was trying to figure out Hayley's character and her possible motivations, and then this happened. I put off writing this until I finished other projects.
> 
> If anyone is reading this in the future and we've learned more about Hayley as a character then, uh...Bear in mind that this was written/posted when all we knew in-canon is that Hayley is a preschool teacher with a botany degree who's dating Kade.
> 
> I may have ended up with three new fic inspirations while trying to get this one done. OTL

            Every day that she works, when she comes home, Hayley finds herself cracking her back and groaning softly the moment her feet are through the threshold. It’s not that she doesn’t like her job. On the contrary, she loves it! But keeping up with energetic, enthusiastic, loud preschoolers all day can wear out even someone as peppy as she is.

            Admittedly, it’s not what she always planned for herself. She always thought she’d be using that botany degree to help discover new plants or open up a gardening store or something, but sometimes, things don’t work out. Sometimes, you don’t have the money to open a business and then your mother develops cancer and then you have to get a job close to home so you can take care of her and then you don’t get to go off exploring. That stinks, but she loves her family, and she can give up a little of her life to pay back how much her parents gave her.

            So she settled into teaching preschool. Even after her mother recovers enough that she doesn’t need to play caregiver anymore, she sticks with teaching. She can’t exactly quit in the middle of the year; that wouldn’t be fair to anyone. Besides, the kids have really grown on her.

            Her dreams can wait. It’s not like she’s old and running out of time. She’s just a few short years out of college.

            Sometimes, though, she stares up at the stars at night and wishes.

            Since she isn’t getting her adventure out exploring the world and all its flora, Hayley creates her own excitement. That can mean anything from dying her hair to driving a little recklessly to skydiving. She’ll try a lot of things at least once. Griffin Rock isn’t exactly short on danger, she quickly finds, and she begins to wonder how she missed it in the first place.

            All things considered, it’s not really a surprise that she falls for a rescue worker; it’s just _who_ that rescuer is that’s unexpected. She met Kade in high school. He was a jock, and she was a cheerleader, so she guesses the media must have given him some kind of expectation for how things are supposed to be between them. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t seem to realize she was also in both the Comic Book Club and the math team with several of the guys and girls he was always making fun of.

            Of course she said, “No,” the first time he asked her out. And the next time. And the time after that. To Kade’s credit, it’s not like he asked every day or even every week. He _did_ keep asking every few months, though, and that was more than enough to be annoying on its own. She fully expected him to be a gnat buzzing around her until she found someone else or died.

            But trying to find someone else was hard for two reasons: looking wasn’t at the top of her list of priorities, and she loves fairytales.

            Fairytales are so light and cheerful and serve as a reminder that, even in the real world, good things can be won through all the monsters and obstacles thrown in your way. They can be a little naïve and morally stark, she has to admit, but there’s nothing foolish about thinking that happy endings happen in real life, too. Yes, the real world is more complicated; sometimes, hard work gets you nowhere, and sometimes, the monsters win. But anyone who scoffs at fairytales for being too optimistic and holds up pessimism as “more realistic” is the real fool.

            The problem is that her love of fairytales comes with an extra side of “Wouldn’t having Prince Charming be great?” She wants someone sweet and brave and charismatic. He doesn’t have to be royalty or even rich. There’s just this certain gentlemanly air she’s looking for, and Kade does _not_ fit at all on first glance.

            With the Prince Charming label also comes an undeniable association with rescuing the princess, and here’s where her feelings become a little more muddled. On the one hand, anyone who says women in fairytales are useless, pretty dolls to be saved is obviously reading the wrong stories. Her favorite tales are full of women who rescue themselves and others, either with just their brains or with a combination of brain and skill. (For a few years, _Catskin_ becomes her absolute favorite for this and other reasons.) On the other hand, is there really anything wrong with her wanting to be saved?

            She knows women can take care of themselves. She knows women like Dani Burns and Francine Greene prefer to be the Knight long before they’ll be the Princess in the Tower, and that’s awesome. Heck, Hayley knows _she_ doesn’t always need to be saved, either. She has a brain; she can problem-solve.

            But is she suddenly worth less than them just because she knows she can’t always do what they do? Is she less because she _wants_ someone to be there to catch her if she falls? To be strong for her when she can’t be?

            Because sometimes she really, _really_ needs someone stronger. She can accept that sometimes dreams don’t work out as planned and people have to find new dreams. She loves her job, and she means it, even if it isn’t the one she wanted. But it wears on her sometimes. It takes a lot of energy to do what she does, and even as smart as she is, sometimes the frustration of it all leads her to do stupid things like speed down a road that’s being blocked off because it’s starting to develop lava pits out of nowhere.

            Sometimes, she just. Isn’t. _Strong enough_. To handle these things, and she needs someone to swoop in and rescue her.

            So, yeah, she’s going to take notice when Kade saves her life. She decides she can at least let him take her out for coffee once, just this time, to repay him. And, well, if that gnat starts to transform into a Prince before her eyes in just the time of that one date, can you really blame her for wanting to try another?

            It doesn’t take her very long to see the genuine Knight under the less-than-shiny armor. He shows off a bit too much for the cameras, and he’s definitely still a jerk, but only when it doesn’t matter. If the moment really calls for it, he can be humble and very, very charming. He’s great with children, always making his visits to her school about what is safe and fun for _the kids_. The more they talk, the more she sees he really _does_ care about his family, especially his youngest brother. In turn, she feels like she can tell him all about her work and dreams and her parents’ condition, and he listens.

            Once she gets to know him, even some of his more jerkish behavior is cute enough to warrant little more than an eye-roll or a shake of her head. Not all of it is—some actions deserving of a lecture, at the very least—but she learns to tell the difference between “Kade is actually being a jerk” and “Kade is teasing to show he cares.” A lot of it is in the delivery.

            Thus, the Prince whom finding had been low on her priorities suddenly becomes a present and very important fixture in her life. Her existence doesn’t revolve around him, but the very fact that she has him means that something about her attitude changes. He’s not what she wanted or expected, but he is what she wants and loves now.

            If that can be true for love, why can’t it be for the rest of her story? Hayley looks around and starts to uncover the good around her. She didn’t get her gardening shop, but she can have her garden, and it can be whimsical and beautiful and worthy of elves, unicorns, and sprites. She didn’t get to explore, but Griffin Rock is hardly short on adventure. And she can use her botany expertise to keep her students safe from poisons and allergies.

            It’s no happy ending just yet, but she’s working her way to getting there.

**_Fin_ **


End file.
